Hey all, I have 2 colonies of Carebara diversa. Both have 2 queens. I know this is a polygynous species, but I don't know how well they warm up to new queens being introduced. Basically, out of my colonies, 1 of the colonies is doing terribly. They cannot get brood past the larval stage, and numbers are dropping, quickly. Rather than just letting the queens die due to no workers able to care for them, I thought about introducing them to the more successful colony. I do not plan to try and mix any workers. What are your thoughts? Becsuse in my eyes, this can only end in positive ways. Either A. I have a kick-ass 4 queen colony!! Or B. The near-death queens become a solid protein source for a day. Please share ideas!

Should probrobly chill both colonies and add a small wire mesh between the two colonies before introducing them to each other. After a few days chill them again and put two workers from the two colonies together in a test tube. If there's a fight then keep colonies separate. If not remove the barrier.

Hope this helps

Edit: Be sure to watch how the workers treat the small steel mesh. Are they biting it? Feeling and running away? Ignoring it?

Hey, I just got back to this. It turns out, the colony not doing well was being destroyed by mites. I never noticed or heard about mites beforehand, and suddenly I introduced the mites to the large colony. *facepalm*All ants but 1 queen, covered in mites, have been wiped out.